Landscape Startup » Yaacov

I’ve Been Working on a Book

Yaacov — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:57:54 +0000

Aside from the day to day job of landscaping, I’ve been busy helping others setup their websites using the same software that powers this blog. It’s called WordPress and is free, easy to use (if you can use Microsoft Word you use WordPress) and search engines love it.

I need a few people to read through it and give me their feedback. The goal is to have a simple, step by step workbook for creating and promoting a service business website online. It’s a great thing to knock off on a rainy day so contact me and I’ll email you the latest version.

What Goes in a Landscaping Flyer?

Yaacov — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:29:34 +0000

I need your help in building an automatic flyer generator tool. What do you want to be able to put into a flyer? What kind of graphics do you want to use? Would you like prewritten copy where all you have to do is fill in your business information?

Take a minute and give me your feedback on what you think the best landscaping flyer should look like.

&lt;a xhref=”http://landscaper.wufoo.com/forms/landscaping-flyer-feedback/” title=”HTML form”&gt;Fill out my Wufoo form!&lt;/a&gt; Powered by Wufoo

3 Free Local Directories You Have To Be Listed In

Yaacov — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:51:24 +0000

Back in February, I wrote about how to get listed in several local business directories. If you haven’t done it yet stop what you are doing and take 5 minutes to get listed. You don’t even need a website. I got a call earlier in the week for a cleanup and planting job. After getting a signed contract for a 1 day job that I should make a $500 profit on plus the opportunity for more work in the fall, I asked him where he got my name from. “A google search for my town + landscaping,” he said.

I saw the page of local business listings he had printed out. There were over a dozen companies on it. Mine was all the way at the end of the page, but it was the ONLY one with a paragraph about my business. Where did that paragraph come from? From the information I gave Google when I created my local business listing.

Take 5 minutes and go to submit your business info to http://www.google.com/local/add?hl=en&gl=us, http://local.yahoo.com/ (link to add a listing is all the way at the bottom of the page), and MerchantCircle.com. You don’t even need a website to get listed.
I’m working on writing up a complete handbook on how to design and promote websites for landscapers and need 3 businesses for a case study. What we’ll do together by phone and email is create a website that will drive you new business, keep you in touch with existing clients, promote it on search engines and more. You’ll have a real, live website within 12 hours of our conversation that you can start using immediately as an added sales too. Email me at jakeandwolf@yahoo.com and let’s get started.

52 Page Project Launched

Yaacov — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:45:40 +0000

Blogging really is the easiest and cheapest way for small businesses to get started online. The 52 Page Project was started to help guide small business owners along the way. Each week for a year they will write one post for their site. One year later they will have 52 pages of great content indexed by google and other search engines. My money says that people who do this will have their sites ranked higher by search engines than websites in the same industry who put up a standard, static
5 page site years ago and never updated it. Visit http://www.52pageproject.com and get started today. Your competitors are. Don’t get left behind.

Quick and Clean Websites For Landscapers in Less Than 1 Hour

Yaacov — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:35:24 +0000

If you aren’t already getting work from the web now is the time to get started. Last October, I wrote about free advertising. I’m going to show you how to get a professional looking website up and running in less than 1 hour without having to pay a designer big money. First you’ll need a web hosting account. Yahoo! has all the design tools you’ll need, more space than you’ll ever use, huge business email accounts, and 1 click installations for many helpful programs such as blogs, contact forms and statistics. Yahoo! also offers a $100 credit for their keywords ads and a $50 credit for Google ads. These days, common search keywords for landscapers are going for $0.50-$2.00 so you should be able to get at least 100 visitors who are desperate buyers for your service. If only one person hires you for an installation, that click will more than pay for a whole year’s worth of hosting fees.

While Yahoo! and others do offer free site design tools to make plain html web pages, I’m going to recommend you use a blog to manage your content. But you ask, “I don’t want a funny looking site with blog posts all over the front page?” Both WordPress (which powers this site and millions others) and MovableType allow you to have a static, non changing home page. Both programs are easy to install with Yahoo!. All you have to do is click on the link, give it a name and Yahoo! takes care of the rest. There are literally 1000′s of theme templates available for free and many excellent designers out there if you need a custom design. Take a look at http://themes.wordpress.net/ to see some.

Once you’ve installed the software, all you have to do is add in your content. On your home page, you’ll want to have a clear sales message. If someone has found you through a google search odds are they already know you’re a landscaper and provide all the services they need. I’d bet that they’ve even checked out several of your competitors sites. It is extremely important to make sure you clearly distinguish yourself and have a call to action so they will contact your. You should have your phone number clearly listed on all the pages, an email address, a page with all your contact information AND and contact form so they don’t have to leave your site or pick up a phone to call you. Your “about page” should have a little biography of yourself and the companies history along with a photo of yourself and staff to personalize the visit.

Showing off photos of your work will help separate you from the crowd and there are several ways to do that easily. More on photos in another article. Why do I recommend using a blog? Isn’t it enough to have 5 or 6 static pages with your basic information? Blogs are really just articles arranged in chronological order with the latest ones showing up first. What’s great is that you don’t need to pay a webmaster or deal with html code to update your site. Also, blogs are easy for your clients to subscribe to by email or within most browsers. Search engines love blogs because they are constantly being updated with new information and you’ll end up with a higher ranking the more you write not to mention being about to show off your knowledge to clients. It’s a cinch for visitors to email a page to a friend. Don’t you love getting work from word of mouth advertising?

What are you waiting for? Get started now! I’ll even help get you started by email/phone.

A Better Way to Display Online Ratings (No more stars!)

Yaacov — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:54:01 +0000

It’s usually obvious when online content is great or absolute garbage, but what about the pieces that end up with users rating them right in the middle. Without reading, hearing or watching the piece you can’t tell if it is truly average or hugely controversial. I’m proposing a new way of displaying ratings that will allow users to visually see the crowds view.

These all have and average rating of 2.5/5, but the stars version leaves out information. Do you like?

Getting Too Early Start on Overseeding Lawns Is Criminal

Yaacov — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:29:52 +0000

March is when we get started with spring cleanups in my area and with temperatures up in the 60′s and 70′s this week many companies are out in full force. I’ve been having fun cleaning out beds, removing fallen branches and doing some dormant pruning along with scouting for bugs. It’s always great when I can point out a little problem to the clients and tack on a quick spray.
Unfortunately, some companies are getting a little over eager and have started over/reseeding lawns in this second week of March. Why am I up in arms over this? Because we’re going to have a little snow storm this weekend. Several days of freezing temps followed by another week of nights below 40 aren’t going to do any good for growing grass seed. Are these guys really charging for March seed work? I should be marking down the addresses and following up in 4-6 weeks with a letter about optimal seeding times and how to tell if your grass seed is growing correctly. If these guys are charging without getting results my letters will be worth hundreds of dollars each!

Be ethical in your work, keep your customers informed about seasonal practices and they’ll cut you some slack when you really need. Some guys like to mow in the rain. My customers know that it’s the best way to get fungal diseases and they still pay my whole monthly fee when I get rained out. I make it up by mowing a little slower and double cutting if the grass is too long so that it looks perfect.

What do you do when you see unethical practices happening?

Look Out For Your Clients This Spring

Yaacov — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:22:07 +0000

Spring household tips from Seth Godin adapted by me.

Give your clients a 9 volt battery with a reminder to check all their smoke/carbon monoxide alarms
Remind them to back up their hard drives because no one ever does and you’ll be the only reminding them. Think of what happens when it does crash and you helped save the huge project they were working on!

Call up your credit cards with high interest rates and say, “I think I’m going to need to cancel my account because your interest rate is too high.” Pause and wait for them to react and give you a lower rate. If they don’t, pay the card off as soon as you can and get a different one.

Share your spring tips in the comments below.

Where Do Your Customers Go for Local Gardening Information?

Yaacov — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 23:55:38 +0000

I hear many complaints from my clients about how hard it is to find good, local gardening information online. Sure you can find sites that may have information about what’s growing in your zone and cooperative extensions offer great information. How come nurseries haven’t gotten into the gardening news business yet? After all, they so sell all the plants, fertilizer, tools and more to local consumers. It would be a cinch for them to tell anyone who walked in the door to check out their website and subscribe to an email newsletter.

I’ve started a site I’m calling Bergen Gardening where I’ll be writing all kinds of good gardening and landscaping articles for my area. Home gardeners, landscapers, nurseries and anyone else with something worthwhile to contribute can easily register for a username and submit articles, pictures and more. There’s also an amazon.com store where I’ve added several of my favorite gardening books and tools I can’t live without. Soon, I’ll add a forum using phpbb so people can discuss local gardening topics, trade plants and ask questions. I’m looking for an automatic way for businesses to add directory listings. Until then, it’s going to be done manually. I’m thinking about adding adsense or another ad network in case a business wants to advertise locally.

The hardest part is going to be getting regular visitors. I know I have my work cut out for me.

Fun Logo Design Site

Yaacov — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 18:24:18 +0000

I bought my business cards on Vista Print a couple of years ago and get many comments on the little Ginko leaf logo I chose from one of their templates. But if you want to real logo check out LogoYes. They have fun logo design tool where you can select different styles, images, drag everything around, enlarge parts, change colors and more. Get it perfect and then buy it for only $99. I just use it to play around with on rainy days.

$99 – Do it yourself online logos. Try before you buy!